Supporting mount for an instrument stand

ABSTRACT

A stand for a precision instrument such as a microscope is provided with a pair of vertically extending plane surfaces which are inclined to each other. The mounting block of the instrument is provided with correspondingly shaped plane surfaces so that both pairs of plane surfaces may be superposed upon each other. The mounting block is provided with locking means in the form of a rotatable locking bar which passes through the vertical slot between the plane surfaces on the stand and engages a surface of the stand facing away from the mounting block upon rotation of the locking means through an angle of about 90*. The locking member is also capable of axial movement either concurrent with its rotary movement or independently therefrom.

ite States Dietrich 14's] Jan. 23, 1973 [541 SUPPORTING MOUNT FOR AN[73] Assignee: Firma Wilhelm Will KG, Nauborn,

Germany [22] v Filed: Nov. 26, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 880,103

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 27, 1968 Germany ..1 121 11185.8

[52] US. Cl. ..248/125, 248/411, 350/255 [51] Int. ..Fl6m 11/04 [58]Field of Search ..350/84, 86, 255; 248/125, 124,

[56 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 508,557 11/1893 Roulstone..248/41l 598,674 2/1898 Linn ..248/41l 1,326,363

12/1919 Michelin ..248/4ll X 10/1937 Swanstrom ..292/59 UX 7/1934 Ott..350/84 Primary Examiner-William l-l. Schultz Att0meyEdmund M.Jaskiewicz ABSTRACT A stand for a precision instrument such as amicroscope is provided with a pair of vertically extending planesurfaces which are inclined to each other. The mounting block of theinstrument is provided with correspondingly shaped plane surfaces sothat both pairs of plane surfaces may be superposed upon each other. Themounting block is provided with locking means in the form of a rotatablelocking bar which passes through the vertical slot between the planesurfaces on the stand and engages a surface of the stand facing awayfrom the mounting block upon rotation of the locking means through anangle of about 90. The locking member is also capable of axial movementeither concurrent with its rotary movement or independently therefrom.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PMENTEUJM 23 I915 SHEET 1 OF 3 Fig.1

I NVEH' OR TONI DiETRICH M AT TOHHE Y PATENTED JAN 2 3 I975 SHEET 2 BF 3Fig.2

Fig.3

INVENTOR rom DIETRACH w W/ A TTORNEY SUPPORTING MOUNTFOR AN INSTRUMENTSTAND The present invention relates to the mounting of a precisioninstrument to a stand, more particularly, to a detachable mountingarrangement for quickly locking or unlocking an instrument on a stand.

A wide variety of precision instruments, such as various measuringdevices, a microscope or the like, are attached to a suitable standduring use. Such instruments may include microscopes for monocular orbinocular observation, stereomicroscopes, or various kinds ofspecialized microscopes for particular applications. Such instruments aspresently known are generally selfcontained units in that the instrumentand its stand constitute a single unit. Where many such differentinstruments must be used such as in development and research labs, inmanufacturing plants and the like, a large inventory of completeinstrument units must be maintained. Such an inventory of instrumentsrepresents a considerable capital investment.

It has been proposed to provide such an instrument unit wherein amicroscope, for example, could be detached from its stand. This wasaccomplished by providing a unilaterally open dove-tail guideway oneither the instrument or the stand with the other'part being separatedtherefrom by being pulled out from the guideway. This mountingarrangement was not satisfactory since considerable skill wasrequired'to position the parts into this dove-tail-shaped guideway. Inaddition, the guideway surfaces must be displaced axially with respectto each other in order to achieve a vertical adjustment of theinstrumenton the stand. If a fine vertical adjustment device wasto be providedbetween these parts, it was then usually'necessary to engage a rack andpinion gear mounted respectively on these components. This not onlycomplicated the mounting procedure but frequent changes of instrumentsupon the stand subjected the gear and "rack to considerable wear.

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention toprovidea novel and improved mounting for an instrument upon a stand.

It is another object of the presentin'vention to provide a' detachablemounting by which aninstrument canbe quickly mounted upon or removedfrom a stan with a minimum of effort by the user. I

It is a further object of the present invention to provide aninstrument'rnounting which permitsa rapid and frequent interchange ofinstruments upon a stand wherein each successive instrument isaccurately mounted in position and ready-for immediate use.

According to one aspect of the present invention there may be'providedan instrument stand having vc'rtically extending supportingsurface means which may comprise a 'pair of "plane surfaces inclined toeach other. The instrument which is =to-be mounted may comprise amicroscope having an objective tube 'to which is attached a mountingblock provided with second supporting surface means. The stand andmounting block supporting surface means are similarly shaped so thatthe'respective surface means canbe superposed on'each other. Themounting block is provided with meansfor lockingly engaging withthestand so as to urge the superposed supporting surface means tightlyagain'steach other to maintain the instrument-in a locked position onthe stand. The locking means may comprise a rotatable locking memberwhich is engageable with a surface of the stand facing away from theinstrument. The locking member is capable of axial movement eitherduring the rotative movement or independently thereof. Thus, when thelocking member is rotated through an angle of about 90 to its lockingposition the axial movement of the locking means draws the supportingsurface means tightly against each other. When the locking means isrotated back to its unlocked position the axial movement of the lockingmember separates the respective supporting surface means.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentupon reference to the accompanying description when taken in conjunctionwith the following drawings, which are examplary, wherein;

FIG. I is a side elevational view of an instrument and stand accordingto the present invention with the mounting structure being shown insection;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the instrument and stand of FIG. 1 with aportion of the mounting structure beingshown in section;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a portion of the supporting surfaces onthe stand of FIGS.I and 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view in enlarged scale of a modificationof the mounting structure of the present invention; and v FIG.-5 is asectional view taken along the line V-V of FIG. 4.

Proceeding next to the drawings wherein like reference symbols indicatethe same parts throughout thevarious views a specific embodiment andmodification of the present invention will-be described in detail.

As may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 a microscope incorporating the presentinvention is provided with a stand '1 having a stage 2 mounted thereonin a manner as known in the art. The stage 2 may be provided withsuitable structure forretaining in fixed position an object or specimenwhich is to be viewed. The stage may be so constructed that it can bequickly detached from thestand and replaced by another stage which maybe more. suitable for a particular application. It would therefore bepossible to-provide an instrument having a number of stages each-ofwhich can be mounted upona common-base.

The vertically upstanding portion of the stand 1 is provided with a pairof vertical plane surfaces 3 and 4 which-are inclined with respecttoeach other as may be seen in F102 so as to define a substantiallychannelshaped configuration in cross section.

' A second'pair of inclined supportingsur-faces 5 and 6 are provided ona mounting block 11. The-plane surfaces 5 and 6 are similarly inclinedto each other to define a similar configuration to that ofplane surfaces3 and 4 so that both pairs of inclined plane surfaces may besuperposed'against each other.

-.A limited or fine vertical adjustment I of the microscope tube- 8 canbe achieved by manipulation .of

the hand-wheels 9 and 10 whichoperate an adjusting structure which isknown in the artand not shown in the drawings. Such a verticaladjustment device will tical adjustment devices. In the microscopeaccording to the present invention the vertical adjustment device isindependent of the structure for mounting the microscope to the stand aswill become apparent from a subsequent description of the invention. Inthe embodiment of the invention as illustrated in FIG. 1 the finevertical adjusting device is positioned between the microscope tube andthe supporting stand. However, the microscope according to the presentinvention may be modified so that the vertical adjustment device is inthe stand. In such an arrangement a single vertical adjustment devicecan be used for a number of different microscope attachments.

The mounting block 11 is joined to a supporting bridge 7 which isattached to a tube 8 of the microscope. Pivotally mounted within theblock 11 is a shaft 12 carrying a locking member or cross bar 13adjacent one end thereof. The other end of shaft 12 is threaded at 14and is received in a threaded bore 15 in the mounting block. Anoperating lever 16 extends radially from the shaft 12 outwardly of themounting block.

As may be seen in FIG. 3 the stand 1 is provided with a verticallyextending slot 18 positioned between the supporting surfaces 3 and 4.The length of the slot 18 is considerably longer than the length of thelocking member 13 so as to permit the locking member to be insertedreadily into the slot and also to provide for a coarse verticalpositioning of the instrument upon the stand. The slot 18 is formed in awall of the stand having a rear or inner surface 19. This portion of thestand is indicated at 20.

In order to mount the instrument upon the stand the operating lever 16is moved to the unlocked position so that the locking member 13 isparallel to the slot 18. The mounting block surfaces and 6 are thenpositioned against the supporting surfaces 3 and 4 of the stand and thelocking member 13 inserted through the slot 18. When the operating leverl6is rotated, the locking member 13 rotates in a corresponding manner.The operating lever 16 is then pivoted through an angle of about 90 andthe cross bar is similarly pivoted to the position 13' as shown in FIG.3. Since the locking member 13 is positioned behind the surface 19, rotation of the operating lever will cause the locking member to becomepositioned behind this surface.

Simultaneously with this rotary movement of shaft 12, the shaft willmove axially because of its threaded connection in the mounting block.This axial movement will draw the locking member 13 tightly againstsurface 19 with the result that the supporting surfaces 3, 4 and 5, 6are tightly urged against each other. When this has been accomplished,the microscope is now in its locked position and is aligned for use.

In order to remove the microscope tube 8 from the stand 1, the operatinglever 16 is rotated in the opposite direction through an angle of about90 so that the locking member 13 is similarly rotated 90 and can bewithdrawn through the slot 18. At the same time that the locking member13 is being rotated to a position parallel with the slot 18 the lockingmember is also being moved axially away from the surface 19 so as tounlock the mounting block 11 from the stand.

The positioning of the mounting block 11 and the microscope tube 8 onthe stand by means of the operating lever 16 accomplishes a coarsevertical adjustment of the microscope. Any subsequently required fineadjustment can then be carried out with the vertical adjustment device 9and 10 provided on the microscope in the usual manner.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 there is illustrated a modification of the presentinvention wherein the axial movement of the locking member 13 isindependent of its rotary movement. While such an arrangement has a widevariety of applications it is particularly suitable for use where themicroscope tube is relatively heavy. There is a tendency for a heavytube to tip downwardly when unlocked from the stand since in most casesthe user underestimates the weight of the tube and does not immediatelycatch the tube when it is unlocked from the stand. This tipping of themicroscope tube may cause the front lens of the microscope objective toimpact the stage or even the specimen slide so that both the slide andthe lens may be damaged. This modification may also be employed wherethe microscope is provided with a particularly valuable objective and itis desired to eliminate as much as possible any liklihood of damage tothe objective.

As may be seen in FIG. 5 the operating lever 16 is axially displaceablein a tubular casing 35 which extends tangentially outwardly from anannular housing 36. The inner end of the lever 16 is provided withthreads 21 which form, in effect, a rack engageable with a pinion gear22 fixedly attached to the shaft 12. When an axial force is applied tothe operating lever 16 in a direction indicated by the arrow 23 theshaft 12 together with the locking member 13 will be rotated.

The shaft 12 is secured against axial displacement and is supported in atubular housing 27 provided with external threads 28 which engageinternal threads 29 of a member 30 which is fixedly attached to themicroscope tube and may be a part of the mounting block. The housing 27is secured by screws as may be seen in FIG. 4 to a radial wall 37 of theannular housing 36.

When the operating lever 16 is pivoted in a direction indicated by thearrow 31, the housing 27 will rotate within the member 30 and thus willmove axially with respect thereto. This axial movement will betransmitted by shaft 12 to the locking member 13 so that this lockingmember is released from the surface 19.

The advantages of the modification of FIGS. 4 and 5 will be readilyapparent in describing the procedure followed in removing a microscopewhich has been locked in position on the stand. To unlock or detach themicroscope from the stand, the operating lever 16 must first be pivotedin a direction of the arrow 31. This pivoting movement is transmittedthrough the housing 36 and tubular member 27 to the shaft 12 which movesaxially so that the locking member 13 is moved away from the surface 19.It is necessary to first separate the locking member 13 from the surface19 since if it were attempted to rotate the locking member 13 by movingoperating lever 16 axially, the frictional force between the lockingmember 13 and surface 19 would be sufficiently great to prevent such arotary movement. However, when the locking member 13 is separated fromthe surface 19 the microscope tube 8 will tip downwardly somewhat tosuch an extend that an edge of the locking member 13 will abutt againstsurface 19.

Even in this position, axially moving operating lever 16 in thedirection of the arrow 23 will not produce any rotary movement oflocking member 13 because of the friction still existing between thelocking member 13 and the surface 19. There is still a firm connectionbetween the microscope tube 8 and the stand 1.

In order to remove the microscope tube 8 from the stand it is necessarythat the user lift the tube with one hand so that the microscope israised from the tipped position. In this position, the locking member 13is now free and can be rotated by applying an axial force to theoperating lever 16. Rotating the locking member 13 through an angle ofabout 90 will permit the locking lever to be withdrawn through the slot18. Since the microscope tube is held in one hand during this releasingoperation the weight of the microscope is supported so that dropping ofthe tube is prevented and the front lens of the objective will notcontact the stage 2.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 the distance between the microscope tube8 and the stand 1 is somewhat greater than the conventional distancebecause of the mounting block 11. This block 11 can be provided with arecess 40 in which is mounted an electric light so as to provide asource of illumination downwardly against the stage 2.

Thus it can be seen that the present invention has disclosed aninstrument mount for precision instruments, such as microscopes, whereina locking device is moved both axially and rotatably in order to effectlocking or unlocking of the instrument onto a stand. The axial movementof the locking member may be either concurrent with its rotativemovement or may be made independently thereof. By providing a separateaxial and rotary movement of the locking member a microscope tube whichis relatively heavy can be prevented from dropping during the releasingoperation since it becomes necessary for the user to hold the microscopetube with one hand in order to actuate the locking member to permitrelease of the microscope from the stand.

lt will be understood that the present invention is susceptible tomodification in order to adapt to differentusages and conditions.

What is claimed is:

1. In a supporting mount for an instrument stand, a stand having meansthereon for defining a pair of vertically extending inclined supportingsurfaces diverging outwardly, means on a mounting block of an instrumentto be mounted on the stand for defining a second pair of verticallyextending inclined supporting surfaces, said pairs of supportingsurfaces being similarly shaped so that they can be superposed on eachother, and locking means pivotally mounted on said mounting block forlockingly engaging the stand to urge the superposed pairs of supportingsurfaces tightly against each other to maintain an instrument in alocked position on the stand, said locking means having a handlepositioned forwardly of said first pair of inclined supporting surfacesso that the locking means is operable from the mounting block.

2. In a supporting mount as claimed in claim 1 wherein said lockingmeans is engageable with said stand, and means for moving axially saidlocking member during rotary movement thereof.

In a supporting mount as claimed m claim 2 wherein said locking membercomprises a bar pivotable through an angle of about 90 between lockedand unlockedpositions, and said bar being engageable with a surface onsaid stand facing away from the instrument mounting block.

4. In a supporting mount as claimed in claim 2 wherein said lockingmeans further comprises a shaft rotatably mounted in said mountingblock, said locking member being fastened to said shaft, said mountingblock having a threaded bore, said shaft having a threaded portionreceived in said threaded bore so that said shaft and locking membermove axially during rotation thereof.

5. In a supporting mount as claimed in claim 1 and comprising means onsaid mounting block for vertically adjusting the instrument when saidmounting block is lockingly engaged upon said stand.

6. In a supporting mount as claimed in claim 2 and comprising anoperating lever extending radially from said locking means and fixedlysecured thereto with respect to said locking member, said operatinglever a being pivotable to rotate said locking member.

1. In a supporting mount for an instrument stand, a stand having meansthereon for defining a pair of vertically extending inclined supportingsurfaces diverging outwardly, means on a mounting block of an instrumentto be mounted on the stand for defining a second pair of verticallyextending inclined supporting surfaces, said pairs of supportingsurfaces being similarly shaped so that they can be superposed on eachother, and locking means pivotally mounted on said mounting block forlockingly engaging the stand to urge the superposed pairs of supportingsurfaces tightly against each other to maintain an instrument in alocked position on the stand, said locking means having a handlepositioned forwardly of said first pair of inclined supporting surfacesso that the locking means is operable from the mounting block.
 2. In asupporting mount as claimed in claim 1 wherein said locking means isengageable with said stand, and means for moving axially said lockingmember during rotary movement thereof.
 3. In a supporting mount asclaimed in claim 2 wherein said locking member comprises a bar pivotablethrough an angle of about 90* between locked and unlocked positions, andsaid bar being engageable with a surface on said stand facing away fromthe instrument mounting block.
 4. In a supporting mount as claimed inclaim 2 wherein said locking means further comprises a shaft rotatablymounted in said mounting block, said locking member being fastened tosaid shaft, said mounting block having a threaded bore, said shafthaving a threaded portion received in said threaded bore so that saidshaft and locking member move axially during rotation thereof.
 5. In asupporting mount as claimed in claim 1 and comprising means on saidmounting block for vertically adjusting the instrument when saidmounting block is lockingly engaged upon said stand.
 6. In a supportingmount as claimed in claim 2 and comprising an operating lever extendingradially from said locking means and fixedly secured thereto withrespect to said locking member, said operating lever being pivotable torotate said locking member.
 7. In a supporting mount as claimed in claim2 wherein there is a vertically extending slot in said stand with saidrotatable locking member being inserted through said slot, the length ofthe slot being greater than the length of said locking member.